Joy of Giving: Alum sees philanthropy as a ‘life-giving force’
Richard Spalding ’76 B.A., ’81 M.Div., has guided congregations and students as a Presbyterian minister, high school teacher, and college chaplain. From 2000 to 2018, the Rev. Dr. Spalding served as Chaplain at Williams College, where he championed religious pluralism and encouraged conscientious journeys of spirit, as he has throughout his career. For his efforts encouraging civic and spiritual engagement across the breadth of the Williams community, Rick received The Ephraim Williams Medal, awarded to a non-Williams graduate for exceptional service and loyalty.
Rick is a member of the YDS Dean’s Advisory Council and the 50th Reunion Gift Committee for his Yale College Class of ’76. He served on the YDS Alumni Association Board 2012–2020, including a stint as president.
After being ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1981, he served as pastor to congregations in New York, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Michigan; as a campus minister at Harvard; and as a teacher at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Trinity School (New York City). In addition to YDS, Rick holds graduate degrees from Union Theological Seminary (S.T.M.) and Hartford Seminary (D.Min.).
Rick and his husband, Peter Bubriski, made an estate bequest to YDS. The couple lives in an old house in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where Rick loves to cook, sea kayak, and sing bass in any choir that will have him.
How did your time at YDS impact your life and career?
It’s difficult to overstate the impact YDS had on me. I stepped into a vibrant multi-denominational spiritual community, and it has accompanied me every step of my life. I was able to rub elbows and souls with true kindred spirits and receive a deep grounding in theory, practice, and history.
YDS was also a playground for me for experimenting with liturgy and the arts. The Institute of Sacred Music had recently moved from New York to New Haven and into the air we breathed at YDS, and we were encouraged to think artistically in everything we did. It sealed my fate as a diehard amateur chorister and occasional producer.
What are you seeing in society that concerns or heartens you, and how do you think YDS might shape a positive future?
Even with my privileged roots, I know a bit about the continuing struggles for freedom from oppression among various communities from the experiences of others and, more personally, within the LGBTQ community. These struggles persist. The Divinity School shaped me—and continues to shape its students—with a commitment to religious pluralism, justice, and a commitment to hold our planet home as a sacramental sign of the love and ingenuity of God.
There is increasing alarm about the environmental disasters we are making around us. During my time at Williams, I was drawn to the students who prioritized environmental studies. These days at YDS students can study ecotheology in a big way.
During my time at YDS, higher education institutions were learning that diversity—then a byword—was sine qua non. Students couldn’t learn what the world needed them to know if they weren’t doing it within a microcosm of the human community: all identities, economic backgrounds, etc. In the ‘90s, religious diversity was newer to that mix. Though I didn’t have a chance to study religious diversity and pluralism per se, YDS pulled me out of my known world and into interfaith relationships.
What part of The Divinity School’s recent work most appeals to you and why?
Something that lives in my gut and heart is the deepening and widening commitment to equip leaders of nonprofits. When I was a student, two of my three field placements were outside the church—in a school and a housing project—and my career intersected often with social change organizations. I wish I’d had more social work training to address where healing is needed. Today, the Divinity School offers students support not only for religious leadership, but also for spiritual and ethical service more broadly. I love that more young people want to receive a theological education as they prepare to help small organizations make change. Theological education allows you to burnish your humanity for whatever your calling turns out to be.
How has giving been joyful for you?
I think feeling called is a fundamentally joyful experience even when, sometimes, we’re called to do uncomfortable things. When I give in a way that calls me toward my own growing edge, I feel that joy. Personal philanthropy is a life-giving force for me.
How do you imagine that personal philanthropy can impact YDS students, the Divinity School, and our world?
At YDS, every dollar given to financial aid goes directly to students. This is crucial because our world needs as many thoughtful, humble, reflective, well-trained holders of the noble traditions of human civilization as possible. YDS is exceptional in producing such instruments of participatory grace. It’s a holistic curriculum that teaches you what your humanity is and how to practice it.
Selfishly, giving to YDS helps me stay connected to the intellectual and spiritual battery our school provides the world. I love where YDS has mapped to go next, and I still feel called to be part of it.